God's Original True Church, Pt. 2

Ron Weinland

October 28, 2017

This will be Part 2 of the series entitled, God's Original True Church.

In Part 1 it was covered that God's original true Church began its existence in 31 A.D. and has continued on to the present. It was also covered that God's Church would go through seven specific eras of time that are spoken of in the book of Revelation and we started going through some of those eras. Whenever I think about this, 31 A.D., and I think of all the other groups that are out there as far as what is called traditional Christianity or Protestant churches and the Catholic Church and the like and you ask, "When did you begin?" or “When did your church begin?" Most can't go back very far at all, nowadays anyway, and unless they're one of the groups like Lutheran or Episcopalian, and especially the Catholic Church, but none of them go back to 31 A.D. You would think that would cause some people to ask certain questions in life.

Of course there is one big church, they do think, they do claim that they're original leader was the apostle Peter, which is not the case and not true at all, but we'll talk about some of that as we go along here in this particular series.

So going back there to Revelation, the first era that we went through and talked about was Ephesus and it lasted up to a point not long after the death of the apostle John, who was the last of the original apostles. By this time when John came on the scene, when he was writing, when he wrote the book of Revelation, all the rest of the apostles, including Paul, had been killed and put to death by, primarily, the government that was there at that time in the Roman Empire. John was the only one that's recorded that had died, they believe, a natural death by old age. He was up into his mid-nineties by the time he died.

So again, we talked about how a lot of history, much history has been lost through time, or at least it's been kept from the public. It's not that it’s really lost, it's just kept from the public and it's kept from libraries. It's kept from other religious groups, and it's located in Rome, and not everyone has access to it. Only a few of the Catholic Church really have access to the archives that are there of things written in history. And you would wonder, "Well, why do you keep all that secret? Why do you keep all that away from the world? Why do you not let others have access to it?" Especially nowadays all that could be put on the Internet very easily so people could have easy access to it. It's not that hard to do, but they're not going to do it. There are reasons, and some of that, again, is covered in this particular sermon series.

So after that period of Ephesus we simply know that Smyrna arose and it only lasted a short time. It didn't last that long. I think of the period of time of Laodicea. When you understand when Laodicea began and when it ended, which is the very last era, it lasted 12 years. That's all it existed. So it kind of began the same way as some of this leading up to the end here. There are short periods and then there is one exceptionally long period of a particular Church era.

So again, after Ephesus came along there was Smyrna, the eras of Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, and Sardis. We don't have a great deal that we know about them because of history because there just isn't the writing out there that we can go to and be able to see what happened to all of them and what existed at different times and so forth, but what God has indeed revealed to us is about these eras, that they had no apostle. These particular eras I just mentioned, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, and Sardis, none of them had an apostle. We read why last Sabbath, of what is established, what God does, and what takes place. I'm not going to go back and repeat all of that right now.

But anyway, referring to the second era, Smyrna, which, again, went through a time of oppression and literal poverty. It identifies this era as one that experienced 10 specific years of intense tribulation and there's been some speculation about what some of that was, and again, there’s not a point of really going into it but of just letting people know and understand that God prophesied, God gave to Jesus Christ who gave to John that there would be periods of time for His true Church that would continue on from the period of the very beginning in 31 A.D. all the way up to its end, actually to the return of Jesus Christ, or at least the countdown to the return of Jesus Christ. Again, we'll cover some of that as we go along.

But let's pick it up here about Pergamos over in Revelation 2. When we come to the third era, Pergamos, something very unique is stated about it. As we talked about it last series, in Part 1, there were two particular churches – one that continues on from 31 A.D. and one that wasn't really established but began to take on the name of Christianity and it began to grow in different ways. It wasn't really organized that well, but again, a spinoff of some things that had taken place for a time, of people who claimed to be apostles or claimed to be from Jerusalem, claimed to have a message about Jesus Christ and some of the things that they did take from some of the things the apostles were teaching and they began to make some of their own organized type of belief, if you will, that people began to follow. But it wasn't what the Church believed, not what God's Church believed. It was something totally different and it was a combination of things that had to do with the name of God or things that are written in the Old Testament and things that the apostles were writing and telling people about and the story of Jesus Christ, but they were mixing that with other beliefs of other religions in the region. That's continued on to this day.

But let's read this, Revelation 2, because one of these groups was the beginning rise of what became known as the Catholic Church and the other was God's original true Church. Revelation 2:12—And to the angel of the Church in Pergamos write, These things are said by he who has the sharp sword with two edges, I know your works and where you dwell... Awesome! So their location, it wasn't Jerusalem any longer as far as where some of the work that was taking place that was coming out from Pergamos, what God had raised up during this particular era; it was in Rome. Of all places to be! You think, what an incredible thing to actually be in the city of Rome in the Roman Empire and this is where God raises up a Church era. Incredible to know the things you're going to be going through, to know some of the kinds these things or at least when you look back at it and realize what they did go through because of the oppression of another group and what they began to believe.

But again, it says, I know your works, and where you dwell. Again, it's interesting to note that all these things are prophetic. They're not written as a matter of looking back. They're a matter of things God gave to Jesus Christ to give to John to write about things that would come to pass. It was said of this particular era, "This is where you're going to be." "This is where," in essence, "your headquarters is going to be." What a great place to be if you know history and know what was taking place in that part of the world at that time and what was rising in that part of the world at that time, but this is where it was, right where Paul had been for so long when he was confined to his place and was kept there. Again, some of the history is sketchy of some of the things that took place before he was actually put to death.

Again, Jesus Christ was saying here, I know your works and where you dwell, even where Satan's seat is, where Satan works from, where Satan is doing a work, where Satan is busy at work because of what he is bringing on the world scene and a religion that he is raising up to confound and dumbfound and distort the truths about Jesus Christ, the teachings of the apostles and so forth, because his effort has always been to destroy what God is making, what God is creating, what God said He's going to bring to pass. So Satan has tried all along to wreak havoc, to cause as much harm as he can, even tried to go after Christ himself as a baby to destroy him, to kill him. Incredible, that kind of a mind that continues to fight against God. You think, "Didn't you learn your lesson? You can't fight against God! You're not going to win." But his mind is so distorted, it is so perverted that he receives a pleasure out of that.

I think of people who have left God's Church at different times. I think of when Mr. Armstrong had to correct his own son a few times, and finally, speaking of Garner Ted, of what took place in time and finally that organization split away from the true Church and became a separate group and certain individuals came together as the ministry with Garner Ted and they raised up a church, and oftentimes the story would come back of what the people in that church talked about. What they relished to talk about was the Worldwide Church of God. What seemed to be a fuel for them in their life when they got together was to talk of all the wrongs, all the things they could come up with, all the things that they disagreed with. You'd think, "If you're going to start an organization and you really believe what you're doing, teach that, hold on to it, and live that. Let the other go. Who cares? It's behind you!" But that wasn't the case because there were other powers at work there and their desire is to stir up. Their desire is to feed on that kind of thing. That boggles my mind.

I think of different ones who have gone by the wayside in recent time and they do exactly the same thing. They feed upon people, situations, things that they have heard, things that they twist and distort and they want to pass along, and it's like this is what gives them purpose. It always boggles my mind when I see that. I think of people who have listened closely to sermons. I don't know if they still do. I don't keep up with what they do, but they'd listen through sermons and right away be blogging about it, be talking about it, about things that they didn't agree with and how many times I mentioned "Elohim," like this is something to laugh at, to mock, to make fun of, how many times I might use "Elohim" in a sermon or something of that nature. You think, "Get a life! What kind of a life is that that you're living, that you feed on this?" That is the mind of Satan when it comes to God and what God is doing. He feeds on that kind of thing. He loathes and hates everything about what God is doing and so he literally feeds upon those things. If he can cause havoc, if he can stir things up in the world or any place around what God is doing he strives to do that. God lets him do a lot of those things because something that Satan doesn't understand is that God can use those things to train, to mold, and fashion Elohim in His people. That's an awesome thing. It really is, to understand that the very things that Satan tries to stir up so often are the very things that God can use to strengthen His own people. That's incredible to understand that.

So this being, Satan, is in this location, in Rome, because of what he's building up, and because of a church that he's raising up and that which he's going to work to confound the world, and he's working. He's working to mix it together with power from a government, the greatest power the world had at that particular time, the Roman Empire. Incredible how he worked with different leaders and why they were motivated to do some of the things that they did, especially Constantine, when you think of Constantine and some of the different ones, and Justinian and some of the ones in history of what they did. You can go back and read about some of those kinds of things. But again, they're put in a certain light because of a certain church.

So again, Jesus Christ told John to write these things about Pergamos, of things that would come to pass. I know your works and where you dwell, even where Satan's seat is. And you hold fast my name… The Church of God. This is brought up several times by God and by Jesus Christ in different places, but especially here when you talk about some of the things having to do with the eras. It's even mentioned again here, a little bit later we'll read it, "You've held fast My name." You haven't quit. You haven't given it up. It's God's Church and it became more important as they saw different groups beginning to rise calling themselves Christian. It says, and you have not denied my faith, meaning the belief of things that they had, that they were able to receive that came from the writings of the apostles. That which they had access to they held on to; they held fast to those things that had been given.

…even in the days where Antipas… Now, this really gets interesting in some of this, of what it says here. …even in those days, again, ought to be in awe of this, that there are things that God has brought about through time. He raised up an individual who would have this as, if you will, a nickname, a name by which he would be called, by which he was doing certain things, and this is what God said, in essence, his name was. He's Antipas and he's going to rise up…even in the days where Antipas was my faithful; the word isn't "martyr," though there are individuals who have been killed, obviously. But this is simply the word for "witness." Antipas was my faithful witness. He lived this way of life that God had given to him. He spoke boldly and openly about that way of life, and he spoke about other things as well because of what his very name means here. It makes it clear here, yes, indeed, and he was slain among you, where Satan dwells, right in Rome. So in time lost his life because of what he believed.

Anyway, interesting word, "Antipas," for those who may not know it. Again, it was the name, identifying name that Christ gave to him. It comes from a compound word in the Greek. The first part is a word that means "against; or in opposition to." So "anti" is the term that we're familiar with. It means "against or opposed to." The second means "father" or in this case, the same as "papa," pope. It’s "Antipope," "Antipapa." Incredible what was taking place here because this is exactly what anyone in God's true Church at that particular time would see, as they saw others rising up, and even as the era when it talked about, when we read about various ones, "you found certain ones who call themselves apostles to be liars," this was already happening and it's still happening here. This continues on then with this era of Pergamos. Now there’s an individual who's speaking out about what's taking place, speaking out against those teachings, and speaking out what is true from God and what was given through the apostles, so more outspoken. That's why he had this name as to who he was. He was antipope. He was against the pope. He was against the papa. That's what it means. Incredible what's taken place through time and through history.

Again, incredible when you think about how these things were written in advance because God knows the mind of the being who opposes Him. He knew the mind of the being, of things that He would allow him to do through time here, of what had already taken place because of Israel. Because a lot of this goes back to some of the things that Satan had already done in working around the nation, the people of Israel, and the other religions in the region. Satan was good at this, of mixing these things together and trying to bring them in and even mixing God's name into some of these things as time went along, even in the Old Testament.

So that same being, God knew exactly what he would do when Christ came along. He knew he'd do the same kind of thing and that's what he did. He gave him open season to do so for a purpose. And so much of it is, again, about the molding and fashioning of God's people because it wasn't meant that God's people have it easy through time. It was meant that they would live through tribulation and hardship and oppression and they would be tried and tested, especially the first group of people who would come into God's government because they're the ones who have to stand up and stand firm and be counted and have things molded and fashioned in them that cannot be molded and fashioned in any other way except they're willing to do those things, and the fact that they're willing to speak out in opposition – this individual here knowing it could mean his head. He did it because it was right, because he was speaking out against that which is wrong, and he was telling that which was true, especially when something at that time was rising as it was in time.

So again, God's people, God has molded and fashioned them through time and has desired, if you will, because it's a part of the way He creates and is creating, especially the first group who will be in that government when Jesus Christ returns, of things they must experience and go through in life, to be tried and tested in many of those kinds of things and have things molded and fashioned in them that can't come in any other way than through the experience. It's kind of like some of the things we talked about at the feast. There are some things in life that we can learn by knowledge, but until you have the experience, and then your conviction is based on what you have experienced, that's a whole different matter. There is a conviction then, there is a mind, then, that is different than having just knowledge. Knowledge is a great thing but how people are going to use that is a totally different matter in life. So God molds and fashions certain things in His people, which is awesome to understand that process.

Again, it's amazing that this other church that began to grow in power and popularity, that it was not, was not God's Church. God's Church wasn't popular. Isn't that incredible to understand? That Satan knows human nature, or at least knows how mankind responds to various things because of a certain nature, and he uses that. He did so here and he raised up people that did some of the kinds of things they did, who hated God's way of life. They were just like he was; they hated God's way of life. They didn't want what was true. They didn't want what was right being taught, and so they were gaining in power and strength and that's what was popular because if you're told that there are certain laws that you have to live by and you have another group calling itself Christian and basically all you have to do is go and confess to someone and then go back out and do the very same things, then you may have to go out and say certain little prayers, "Hail Mary's," so many "Hail Mary's," and count so many beads, whatever it is, and then go right back out and live what you live, because after all, you're not under the law, you're under grace. You're under God's grace because Jesus Christ is different than that God of the Old Testament. He's more merciful and he understands your weak frame and that, yeah, you committed adultery, but just say so many "Hail Mary's" or whatever it is, and put some money in the thing out there when you leave, a certain amount. I'm being a little facetious in some of that, but that's how they function. That's how they functioned in time. Sick. Sick. Sick. So people gravitate to that kind of a religion when they don't gravitate to the truth. Isn't that a marvel? You can go out here and see churches that have 5,000 people in a building, parking lots packed. It kind of looks like what the Feast of Tabernacles used to look like in some places of this country, and to believe what they believe.

Matthew 23. So this one is called Antipas, "Antipapa," "Antipope." It blows my mind even physically that people can read some of these things, think about some of these things, and then fully ignore it because two churches existed at that particular time, two churches were on the rise. Well, we'll say one was on the rise, and one was having a battle to exist. It always has through time. One of the first things that Christ said here, Matthew 23:8—Do not be called, or addressed by, is what it's talking about, as 'Rabbi'. Isn't that amazing? And yet it's easy to understand why the Jews do what they do, because they don't recognize Jesus Christ as the Christ, as the Messiah anyway, so they're going to do what they want to do. And so their teachers, their Rabbi's, and Jesus Christ said that no one is to be called by that, or "Master" for that matter because there is only one who is your Master, even Christ, and you are all brethren, speaking of the Church. And call/address no man as your 'Father' upon the earth. Now, it's talking about along religious lines, not in family, but religiously as a title no one is to be called "Father." That's exactly what this big church was doing, calling its head, its leader Papa, Pope, Father. Then they even had others coming along who were ordained who are also known as "Father's," different titles that people carry. It blows my mind! How can you do something like that that Christ clearly says, “Don't do this”? Don't call anyone by those names.

So what do you think this Antipas was teaching? This very verse. These very things that Jesus Christ said. This is what he was telling people, "You're not to call anyone "Papa." You're not to call anyone "Pope." You're not to call anyone "Father." That's a sign of a church that isn't following God. That's a disobedience to Jesus Christ himself, so how can it be of God? How can it be of Christ?" So this is obviously one of those things that he would have been saying, plus many others, but this is just one. Don't call any man, address them as "Father," for One is your Father who is in heaven. There's only one on a religious plane that can be called Father. Incredible.

Revelation 2, the next era that followed here in verse 18—And to the angel of the Church in Thyatira write… I'm still dumbfounded in thinking about some of this. When the Church went through the Apostasy, when you come to 1994 and the things that took place at the end of that particular year, it wasn't long after that that it became very obvious that people who'd been scattered, they had even lost this about the eras, not really believing were there really eras of the Church. Was there a Philadelphia era? Was there really an era called Laodicea? People were debating these things. What happened? That's just one of many things that people had lost by this time.

And to the angel of … Thyatira write; These things are said by the Son of God, who has eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass: I know your works. I love it when I go through and read this too because the Protestant world claims you don't have to have any works, and you're not saved by works; you don't have to have works. They speak with a forked tongue because works are the things you do because of what you believe. If you believe in baptism by immersion that's what you do, you immerse people at baptism. If you believe the Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week following Friday the sixth day – and I say that this way because when this get's translated there are some countries that if you don't spell it out they say they don't know, "What do you mean?" Because the Sabbath, the word means Saturday, seventh day, whatever. Incredible. If you believe that that's when you're going to come before God, you’re going to come on the seventh day of the week.

But if you believe something different, if you believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead Sunday morning at sunrise and that this gives you a right and a justification and proof that you are supposed to be observing Sunday as your holy day (which they use, many of them use), and that's what you believe, and therefore, you go to church on Sunday, that's your works. They have works. They have works, but they want to find fault with the works that come out of the Bible. They want to find fault with works that come from what you do. You go the Feast of Tabernacles, "Oh, you don't have to go to the Feast of Tabernacles. You can't be saved by your works. Don't you understand you poor, ignorant thing?" And on and on it goes. "And it's not a matter of what you eat or don't eat. You don't have to do those clean and unclean food laws. You can't be saved by those things. There's no point. You've been freed from all that." Yet their belief is, opposite of what God says, you can eat anything. You can eat shrimp and you can eat lobster, and you can eat pig and everything else. So that's their works. They believe in Sunday. They believe in Easter. That's why they observe Easter. They believe in Christmas. So that's their works. On and on it goes. They believe in proselyting. That's why they go into other nations. That's why they send money and people into different nations and so forth "to spread the word about Christ." It’s not what he taught, but the word about Christ and that you're under grace and all these other crazy things, that's their works.

So they speak with a forked tongue, they truly do. They speak with incredible hypocrisy. They want to condemn God's people, the Church for what they believe, for what you believe, but they won't address why they do the things they do and the fact that they're going to keep these days, no matter what, that they observe

I know your works and charity, the kind of mind they had toward others, the kind of service they had towards others because it was motivated by God's love which reflects the fact that they were close to God. You have to have God's spirit in you, that life living in you in order to love people this way. He says, I know your works and your love, agape (AH-gah-peh, if you will), and service. They were service oriented, of a service mind toward others. That's a unique mind. That's one that doesn't exist really well even in this day and age, a mind that's an attitude in service towards others, of helping others. It's just not the world we live in. …charity and service and faith, and your patience and your works…

Now, Thyatira, it lasted a long, long time. It is believed to be 1260 years from around the period of 325 A.D. on up into the late 1500's. It’s easy to understand why it went though some of the things that it did, but it was the longest era of God's Church, yet in all that period of time look at the great church that rose up, that existed during that period of time because it wasn't until toward the end of that time that other churches really started gaining in power, when you want to talk about the Church of England, when you want to talk about the Lutheran Church, and some of those others that began to rise up. Some actually went back to the late 1400's, but certain ones that began to come along especially throughout the 1500s and those other churches began to arise and because of the printing press and because of the ability to print something now that people could have more readily in hand and to read themselves rather than what their "fathers," their priests, told them that the Bible said. They themselves were able to begin having greater access to reading what it actually did say.

So that affected God's true Church in a very powerful way. It thrust it into another era, the printing press did. That's awesome to understand. So it went through this entire period of time when the Catholic Church had gained great power, was backed by a government, the Roman government, through time and some of the things they did to people, to God's people, to anyone who would oppose them, to anyone who would oppose the Catholic Church. You know, you can go back and do some reading. I'm still dumbfounded by some of the things that the Pope's and cardinals and different ones backed and how they would torture people and punish people. They did sick, sick, perverted things to get people to recant and by burning them and by stretching their bodies and by pulling limbs off their bodies and all the sick, sick things they would do in the name of the Catholic Church. It blows my mind how anyone can be a part of something like that. You go back and look in history and you think, "Your leaders, they backed that kind of thing? They supported that kind of thing? How could you be a part of that? Does that reflect the mind of God? Were those Pope's infallible indeed in things they had to say?" Huh! Hardly! The things they backed, the things they did with other governments, the wars they backed and supported in the name of their religion? It doesn't reflect what God says. It doesn't reflect what Christ taught. Incredible, what's happened through history and people just ignore it. It's not a big thing to them. Its like, "Well, that was a long time ago. I'm not sure what that has to do with it,” but I don't know about you but when I think about things like this I am just sickened. I really am. I'm sickened inside that anyone can look at history, read anything about history and say, "That's God's Church." That that has evidence that it practiced and lived God's way of life. "Well, it changed in time. It matured in time." Give me a break! To do that kind of stupidity and garbage and filth and somehow back it up by God's name? I'm so thankful this is all coming to a close, coming to a head. It's hard not to get worked up about some of these kinds of things and what people willingly believe and what they also willingly ignore in this world.

So it says, again, about their faith, their patience. So they went through a lot for a long period of time, and so God just continued to raise up different ones in different regions of the world, throughout Europe, and the Church would prosper in a particular area for a time and there is some history of some of those things that took place; it’s not good, but there is some out there of the evidence that God's Church had been there. A lot of things about people who kept the seventh day Sabbath that is very unique throughout a lot of period of time, especially in through here and toward the end of Thyatira.

I know your works and charity, and service, and faith, and your patience, and your works, and the last to be more than the first. What an awesome thing to be said about Thyatira, that even the last was more than they had done in the first in how they lived as far as what they held on to for so, so long. It had passed down faithfully from one group of people, from one minister to another because that's how things have spread, or things did spread through time.

Notwithstanding, I have a few things against you, because you suffer/you allow the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess… Again here, I've heard all kinds of thing said about some of these statements that are made here about the different eras, but it all goes back to talking about this one church and what they were doing. That's all it's about. It's about two churches, one God's true original Church, and another that had incredible power that it was wielding because of, especially because of the backing of government it had. Basically here using the word "Jezebel" on a spiritual plane, not a physical plane. This isn't anything about anyone that was called "Jezebel" or anything physical. It has to do with the history of Israel and what had happened with them and then what was happening now, the same sort of thing now with the group that was calling itself of God and of Christ. Basically it’s talking about someone who was claiming to be an interpreter of the divine will of God. Who was that, I wonder, that it's speaking of that was teaching every kind of falsehood imaginable? It's that great church and I think of one place in Revelation where it refers to it as the great whore. God speaks plainly what He has to say about this body. So Jezebel, or the great whore, or whatever, it's the same thing because it's on a spiritual plane of what they did and what they taught.

…to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, so that power that was there to teach things that were so different from what was true. Satan stirred up those things and used those things to indeed turn people away from what was true, just like has happened through time here, just like those who have come along and the ministry and what led up to the Apostasy. It’s the same sort of thing, "seduce my people." What is it that people went back to, a third of the Church? They went back to Sunday, back to Easter and Christmas. Incredible that that could happen. "Seduce my people." So these things were out there and there were ministers who began to listen to that stuff, that garbage, and they began to teach congregations. They began to teach people some of the things that they believed that they were learning that "Mr. Armstrong didn't really grasp and comprehend, and here is where he was wrong, and this is why." People listened to that and vast numbers turned away from what was true. And you think how is that even possible? But it is because it has to do with something that's spiritual. There's a spiritual power there. That's why I think of the verses that talk about, "power, signs, and lying wonders," because it's from a spirit world and there's a lot of power there when people begin to mess around with something like that, especially when they've been in God's Church and know the truth and they begin to mess with something like that, what it does to the mind, disobedience and how those beings then have a power that they didn't have before of influencing these individuals. That's some scary stuff, scary stuff.

So again, talking about your later deeds were even stronger than the first and this Jezebel then… Notwithstanding, I have a few things against you because you allowed that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols. This is not physical, it's doctrinal. They began to eat of on a spiritual plane some of the things they were saying, some of the wrong things they were saying. We don't know what they were. Perhaps things having to do with Easter and the desire this church had to get, to move people away from observance of Passover. We don't know specifically what they were, but there were things they began to mess with. We don't know what those doctrines were, but some who were part of God's Church began to mess with some of those things.

Verse 21—And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she did not repent. So whether this was a specific point in time or whether it happened at different points throughout that 1260 years, we don't know. It likely happened many times throughout that period of time because things have a way of repeating and going through cycles as God works with His people, those He would bring through that, who would listen to Him, and others who would not. Many were called, but when it was all said and done few were chosen. It's the way it's always been.

Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 1260 years.

Verse 24—But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira… Well, who are the rest? Those who didn't listen to that church, those who held fast, those who did exactly what it said before here, "your works, your charity, your service, and faith," but not everyone did. So some listened, and because of that they were seduced and they began to commit spiritual fornication by believing things that they were not given from God. They began to believe things given by that particular church. Again, these things have happened through time; they've just happened more during this period of time. They happened during Philadelphia. It happened during Laodicea. But during this era it happened a lot more because of the influence of that rising power and the strength they were gaining in the world.

So again here, going on it says, But I say unto you, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, do not hold to this doctrine in any way (that's what it's talking about), who don't give into those false teachings, and which have not known the depths of Satan, because that's where it comes from. Those false teachings, they come from that being. He is the one who inspired the fact that there is a trinity, that there are three beings but they're just one. There's just really one God, but there are three; one is Jesus Christ, one is this holy ghost thing, whatever it is, it's a separate being, and then God the Father. They're all three of these beings but they're one being and it's just a great mystery nobody can understand. That's what the pope said. You can't understand it because, well, it's a mystery. That's what a mystery means; you can't understand it. That's where it came from. It came from Satan. The thing about Easter? That goes clear back into the time of Israel. The thing about Sunday worship? That goes way, way back before Jesus Christ. He just brought along the same kind of talent he had by this time of seducing, of twisting and distorting things into a religious belief. He was professional at what he did and there is no human being that was a match for that. People succumb to that because it's like, "Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Sunday morning. Sunday morning. Yeah, we should be observing it. We should come together and worship every Sunday morning. That makes good sense."

As many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak, I will not put upon you any other burden. Awesome what it has to say here! You know what God is saying, what Jesus Christ is saying here? This word "to put" means "to cast or to throw in front of you." "Nothing is going to be put in front of you. You're not going to be tried in any other area but this. This is big enough." Throughout that period of time and what that church was doing and the power that it had because it was backed by the Roman government and the power that it was wielding in the Roman Empire, because of this and because of what it's teaching and because of the pull and the strength that it has, you're not going to have anything else put in front of you. God's going to protect them. But you're going to stand up to this. You're going to have to go through this and hold on to what is true. This here is trial; this hear is enough. That's basically what God is saying, "You'll have nothing else placed before you that you have to go through."

Verse 25—But that which you have hold fast till I come. That's what it was all about. What truths you have that have been passed down from different ones in the ministry in the Church, hold on to those things that have been given to you. And he who overcomes, and keeps my works until the end, to him will I give power over the nations. Well, the reason it says that, obviously, is because those who come through this, who came through this period of Thyatira, they're a part of the 144,000. They are a part of that count that will come with Jesus Christ in God's Kingdom and God's government that will rule over the nations of this earth.

The next era is Sardis, again, which came on the scene in the late 1500's and lasted down to the beginning of the 1930's. Revelation 3:1—And to the angel of the Church in Sardis write; These things are said by he who has the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars, which, again, is always about Jesus Christ here at the beginning of each introduction here. I know your works, that you have a name that you live. Isn't that incredible? Speaking of that name again. What is it? The Church of God. You have a name that you live because it's the Church of God, God's Church, and are dead. Spiritually. Incredible. This is the primary thing that pictured what this group of people was like because of what they were going through and what the Church was going through because it went through a period of time where it began to lose most everything it had. A lot of it, again, if you can understand things that happened in history, just from the printing press alone and because of all these different groups rising up that made more sense to them than the Catholic Church because there were things they could hold on to even though some of the same major doctrines, the way that they presented themselves and the things that they presented, were done in a totally different manner than what the Catholic Church did, and so they could gravitate more easily to some of these. That's what was taking place, and it wreaked havoc upon God's true Church during this period of time.

Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. So they were losing doctrine after doctrine, truth after truth, and they're simply being told, "What you have, hold on to, that are ready to die." For I have not found your works, and it's not the word for "perfect," at all here. I have not found your works fulfilled… In other words, they were incomplete. If you don't have the truths of God you're not going to have the works in your life that you need to have. You're not going to be productive, you're not going to be able to be molded and fashioned, and because they were losing these truths, they couldn't fulfill what the Church should have fulfilled by having those truths and ways and so forth that they were losing one after another. So there wasn't much that came through this entire period of Sardis at all.

Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. For I have not found your works fulfilling (fulfilled); they're incomplete, in other words, before God. Remember, therefore, how you received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. This is a beautiful verse here because this is true. All these messages, the things that are true and positive are for all ages. The things that are warnings are for all ages of God's Church. When it comes to "Jezebel" and things that are out here in false religion the same is true and warnings from God, but there are certain things that were more descriptive of specific periods of time, and that's what the eras are all about. So here is a group that didn't have much left by any of its time, frankly, when a lot of this started because they were losing things right and left and they kind of existed as an organization, but not a spiritual one. They passed things along more on a physical plane because of what they had, kind of like the Seventh Day Adventists, or some other group, or the Baptist church. They're not God's Church, but here were a few that at different points in time that did come through this, that did hold on to various things that were given to them. But by the time they got to the end spiritually it had come to an end, and that's why God had to raise up another era.

Remember how you have received and heard… So whatever truth you've received and heard, don't forget it and don't forget how you received it, and hold fast, and repent. The reason that's important is because, where did you get the truth? If it was during the period of Philadelphia, if people had always understood throughout Philadelphia they wouldn't have had trouble with other minsters coming along, let alone Mr. Armstrong's own son, saying something different, because they didn't come into the Church because of his leadership, because of the things that had been written there. Yes, he had an influence by things he wrote. Yes, he had an influence by things he was able to do and speak when he was on a telecast, but the truth they were brought to, the way of life they were brought to was because of what God had established through his father, Mr. Armstrong. The churches that were established, and the ministry that was out there, and so forth, was there because of what God had given to his father. So even his own son began to turn away from some of those things, let alone others in the ministry, speaking of a little bit of history here, of what took place during the period of Philadelphia.

So it goes on to say here to hold fast what you have and what you've heard, remember where you've heard it because if people always remember that then they won't go to some other something else, because they didn't get the truth there. That's what boggles my mind, how some can leave what God has given concerning 2005 and understanding that Jesus Christ hasn't eternally existed, and how can you go to an organization that teaches that still? I know how it's done, it's done spiritually because they lose what they had, but it still boggles the mind.

Verse 4—You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, a few, not very many. You have a few names that have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He who overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white garments; and I will not blot out their name out of the book of life, but I will confess their name before my Father, and before His angels. So again, it is said of all people through time here, basically, but a message to Sardis. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the Churches. So it's a message that God has given through the power of His holy spirit and those who will listen to it, they'll grow and they'll be increased.

Anyway, we know the history here, but people who are new or people who come along as time goes along here don't understand what happened in these different eras. They don't understand that in 1930 God raised up another man, Mr. Armstrong, and his wife Loma, and began to give them truth. And candidly, it started with Loma because of the challenge she gave to her own husband about the Sabbath, and some of the others things that began to challenge Mr. Armstrong. He began to do studies into it and God began to open his mind and help him to come to conviction of something that was totally against his Quaker background. There's a big difference there if you know some of the things of the Quaker religion. All of a sudden here you start turning to things about the Sabbath and start seeing things that you've never grasped nor understood.

But anyway, the only Church they came in contact with was the end of the Sardis era, and the only thing they had was the name, The Church of God, they had the Sabbath day, they understood that, and the matter of 1st tithe. Everything else they'd lost. Incredible! They didn't know about the holy days. They didn't know about the importance of Passover and the observance of Passover every year. These things were all gone by this time. That's why it's referred to as a dead Church spiritually. It had come to a point where it was dead. So God began to raise up Mr. Armstrong to give it life once again and to restore the truths that were given from the very beginning.

Again, God's Church had its beginning in 31 A.D. and through time it became weaker and weaker, especially toward the end, all the way up to 1900 years later, around 1931 when God began to work more powerfully through Mr. Armstrong and some of the things that He began to do through him and reveal to him. Incredible history and things about Mr. Armstrong's life and how God restored 18 Truths that the Church hadn't known for a long, long time, things that had been lost throughout the period of Sardis over a several, a few hundred years there, not several hundred, but a few hundred years there. I guess in one respect it's quite a few when you take the late 1500's all the way up to 1931.

So beginning in the 1930's the Church began to grow and a great end-time work began and emerged on the world scene and there are still people that we run into from time to time, and maybe you do as well, that remember reading The Plain Truth magazine that was going out every month by millions and millions worldwide. There was no other religious organization that had more material going out to it, more television and radio broadcasts and telecasts going out into the world than what was happening with “The World Tomorrow” program by Mr. Armstrong and by what he had given and brought about, if you will.

So again here, Ambassador College and the things that God did in helping to raise up a ministry at the end-time. That's the primary function for it and then that which would follow toward the end of that as well. But anyway, all this through the period of Philadelphia.

Revelation 3:7—And to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia write; these things are said by he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David. Now, again here, please understand because I don't think that people have really understood this very well. Every time you start reading an introduction here to a Church era it's talking about Jesus Christ. It's speaking about Jesus Christ, him, his name, his appearance, and so forth, of some of the things that it uses to glorify him. This is the same. This is about Jesus Christ. Okay? This is not about Mr. Armstrong. This is about Jesus Christ first and foremost. And to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia write; these things are said by he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David; he who opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens. It is 100% about Jesus Christ. He has the key of David and he has the ability to open and shut as far as His Church is concerned, as far as His ministry is concerned, and this is how it introduces the era of Philadelphia. Now, he gives those things to the Church and he gave those things to Mr. Armstrong, but you have to understand where it came from and what's truly being said because this is quite a marvel.

We'll turn over to 2 Samuel here in a moment and read a part of what is said there, but it's a prophecy about this, about part of what's said here. So again here, God's Church through Mr. Armstrong began to understand what the key of David was about and that understanding has grown since the beginning of that revelation that was given to him. The understanding of that has grown and it's even grown since Philadelphia as to what this is all about because God continues to reveal more and more about what is taking place in the world and where we're going and why.

So that key, again, is very much about the modern day nations, if you will, the identity of Judah and Israel and a fulfillment of a promise God gave to king David of his descendants who would always exist, who would be able to sit on his throne, not that every point in time here there would be someone. There were times when Israel and Judah, or whatever, were punished and there wasn't anyone sitting in a particular specific moment in time, but they were there; they were alive, and they could have been sitting there. The point being is they were there and able to if they had not been going through a period of time where, again, that they were being punished, but that's another matter. The point is that lineage continued on from the time of king David. This has a great deal to do with what this key is all about and the identity of who modern day nations of Israel are.

So that was one of the focal points that began to open up things prophetically about the end of an age and that Jesus Christ was to return. It has to do with the identity and the promises that God gave to Manasseh and to Ephraim and to the other nations as well, and especially to Manasseh and Ephraim because that power would be given to them at the end of an age of one being a great nation, a commonwealth of nations, and then the other being the greatest nation the earth would ever have known. And leading up to what? The coming of Jesus Christ. Powerful! Because it's all about that which was promised to David that would be fulfilled by Jesus Christ. It's about him being the Messiah. It's about one who would come from that lineage, that would be born in time, who is speaking of Jesus Christ, not just the fact that there would be individuals continually able to sit on that throne (which has been the case), but the fact that there would be one that would come back that would sit on it for the remainder of time for mankind.

So in addition, again, this key is about who it is, who will fulfil the greater promises made to David about a son who will come from God and reign, again, on Israel (I want to make sure I get all this), which is about, again, the Messiah, and it has become clear that this key has been given to Jesus Christ who himself gave that key of understanding and power, he'll give it to whom he wills and he gave it to Mr. Armstrong.

2 Samuel 7. There are two important prophecies connected with the ability to understand what this key is really all about, and this is one of them. 2 Samuel 7:12-14—And when your days have been fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, so incredible promises that began to be told to David about what God was going to do through him. I will set up your seed after you, which shall proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom. So this is very specific here now in what it's talking about, what it's leading up to. He shall build a house for My name… So this has a duality to it, indeed, a duality of some of what was going to be handled on a physical plane through his son, Solomon, but more importantly what was going to happen through the seed that would come, speaking of Jesus Christ. …and I will establish the throne of his Kingdom forever. That's speaking solely about Jesus Christ. Before it was dual, here it's totally about Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone who would be over Israel. Again, we understand this isn't just a physical Israel. Israel has to do with the Israel of God, the Church that's going to be established, the Millennium that is established, and the people who will be a part of that Kingdom that Jesus Christ rules over.

I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, again, going back to a different lineage here speaking of Solomon because we know what Christ fulfilled and we know the prophecies about him, one who would never have sin, one who would be able to be the Passover because of his blood being spilled to the earth through which people can be forgiven of sin. And it says, and with the stripes of the children of men. So different ones were punished at different times. So it goes back and forth, as so many prophecies do, especially when you get in the book of Revelation.

Verse 15—but My mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. So again, a unique prophecy here. Here is something that is going to continue on to the coming of the Messiah. Yes, to his birth, to his coming, and then later on his coming as the Messiah, as the Christ, but there's going to be a lineage all the way through this period of time as well on a physical plane. And it says, "My mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you." So there's something different here than what happened to Saul. Saul had everything removed from him. Everything. Nothing was going to proceed from his lineage, but to David there would always be a lineage. That's what God's saying, "It'll never depart from you. It will never depart from you regardless of what happens to different ones along the way and how they're punished or whatever takes place," because so many of them were.

And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. So, yes, indeed, it's going to be fulfilled in a very powerful way because of Jesus Christ, but before that and up to that point in time? It's still going to exist. It’s still going to be there. Then it says, and your throne shall be established forever. So that shows the direction its heading. That's what's going to be accomplished in time. We understand, again, that's talking about Jesus Christ when he returns, but until that time it's still going to be there. There is going to be a lineage, his house, a lineage from David. And according to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

Another prophecy, Jeremiah 33:17—For this is said by the Eternal, David shall never want, and the word really means here "to have cut off or made to be cut off," if you will, a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel. The point being is there would always be a lineage and though they may not sit at any specific moment in time, there may be times when they're not in power, they're going to be there. So they'll never be cut off fully. That lineage is going to continue on regardless. That's what this is about.

God revealed the truth to Mr. Armstrong, again, that the lost 10 tribes of Israel, again, have modern day identities, especially in Manasseh and Ephraim, and the royalty especially over Ephraim. It’s an incredible thing when you realize that there are people who don't want that to be known, don't want to talk about it. They try to squelch it in Great Britain, different groups that rise up who talk about, who speak of the fact that the queen to this day is a descendant of king David. They don't want to address that. They don't want to touch that. Yet there are groups of people that acknowledge it. A matter of fact, there are a lot of them scattered in different parts of the world, but throughout Europe and especially throughout Great Britain, Scotland, and Ireland who believe in some of those things just by physical history alone. And it's not that popular, but it exists, and it's understandable why that Great Britain doesn't want to acknowledge the fact that they have someone of the tribe of Judah. A Jew? Can you imagine? A Jew is reigning? Because people look down upon the Jews. They have for a long, long time, and they still do to this day and they still do in Great Britain and in other nations. Jews are still looked down upon. They truly are. But to say they're the ones who are reigning over you? They can't accept that. That's like those of traditional Christianity thinking that Christmas and Easter shouldn't be observed. It's just so foreign they're not even going to look into it. "Ah, but it's a nice thing and our kids like it and it's family time. It's not harmful."

So there is an incredible, awesome history of how that lineage was preserved. It's been a while since I've been through it, but in preparation for this I went back and did some things as well again, and I’ve been reminded of some of the things that took place when Jeremiah was responsible for helping save this lineage so it didn't die out because God was going to make sure that there was always a lineage from the time of king David until the time Christ returns to this earth and takes that throne, again, but on a grander scale, obviously. So there was a period of time here, obviously, when the lineage, all the males were killed. All that were taken into Babylon, the kings, the lineage, they were all killed. They all died and there is that which is given about Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch that God had given certain people, and especially the daughters of the king of Judah to his care. They escaped. They had a means of escape, escaping from being taken captive into Babylon. They actually went down into Egypt and they were part of something that God even told certain ones not to do. But Jeremiah was there and he had to go with this group, and so did Baruch, and they finally migrated from Egypt, or through Egypt to modern day nation of Ireland.

You can go back. It's awesome! There is so much written in Irish history that, again, you have to know certain things that have taken place and certain names of individuals and some of the history that takes place here, but I find it really interesting when you go through some of this.

But history records quite a bit about the arrival of certain artifacts and Jeremiah and Baruch, not known by those names in Irish, but the one for Baruch is very close to the same sound. But again, this was Gaelic. I guess that was. I think that was it, or at least it migrated into that, some of the terms that were used later on, the way some of the language that was spoke there and the way things evolved by sound, as so often happens with one period of time to another. But again, they had with them a princess by the name of Tea-Tephi. One of the things I find interesting, just certain artifacts of things you find in time here, but you know what's on the coat of the arms of Ireland? It's a harp, and it's believed to be the harp of David. Incredible, to this day, why have a harp as your flag, as your coat of arms? And yet this history goes back there, and even a stone that they have there and some of this history of them when they landed and what took place and a certain king of that particular area. There was a coronation stone that's referred to, and all the kings of Ireland at that particular time were always coroneted on, from that time forward were coroneted in leadership over this stone. There's incredible history just right in Ireland about some of these things in a physical plane. In Gaelic the term for this coronation stone was Lia Fáil and later referred to in different terms as the Stone of Destiny, Jacob's Pillar Stone, the Stone of Scone, the Coronation Stone. It had all these different names to it.

There's an incredible history and the popularity of it and how people go to war over this thing. All the deep sentiment between Scotland and Great Britain. Yeah, there's some deep hatred and things that took place in time here just over that stone and because of what they believed to be their right of this particular stone. So incredible to think that Jeremiah and Baruch brought this princess there, she married the standing king, known as the king of Ireland at that time, and from that point on a lineage continued on, and this stone being used for every coronation through time from that point on, as a whole. For centuries kings and queens have been coroneted in Ireland, Scotland, and Great Britain over this particular stone.

The Stone of Scone was later used in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. She was coroneted over this stone. It was sitting there on that throne when she was coroneted of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In 1296, going way, way back—so all this is in history—in 1296 the stone was captured by Edward I as spoils of war and taken to Westminster Abbey. You think there weren't some deep feelings about this stone, that they would take it in a time of war, and then take it as he did down to Westminster Abbey? And from that point on every king and queen that came along, that over this particular stone from 1296 and on in Great Britain they were coroneted over the same one. It was fitted onto a particular wooden chair known as King Edward's Chair. That chair is still there, but the stone isn't there right now, but it was when I was in Bricket Wood in college. It was made for the stone underneath the chair, underneath the throne and it was known as Jacob's pillar stone. If you know the history you think, "Where did Jacob's pillar stone come from?" The dream he had. The Israelites carried that stone all that time.

I mean, some of the things that have happened! When I think about that and how hard it is to believe something like that I think of that pole with the serpent on it. Seven hundred years the Israelites were worshipping that thing that it had some kind of power to heal. Finally a king came along that had to destroy it, ground it up, got rid of it, and yet that image is still with us to this day because it's such a powerful image to the Israelites at that time that they had their own little images just like people to with crosses. Everybody has their little cross, and they all had their little sword there, whatever, with a snake around it. Anyway, incredible things.

This here is incredible, too, when you think about this thing, this stone being transferred generation to generation to generation, carried with the Israelites, carried all the way by Jeremiah and Baruch up to Ireland, and then every king and queen, especially after 1296 coroneted over this thing, including Queen Elizabeth. I mean, that's awesome! Some of the things that people just can't deny. So again, it's upon this stone that many centuries of kings and queens have been coroneted in Ireland, Scotland, and Great Britain. Awesome!

In 1996 (I want to read another section here), in a symbolic response to growing dissatisfaction with Scots at the prevailing constitution settlement the British Conservative government decided that the stone should be kept in Scotland because there's this deep sentiment. I think it was back in the late 40's early 50's—there's a movie on it—about how that these college students came down out of Scotland and stole it out of Westminster Abbey and they took it back to Scotland because Scotland had such a deep feeling toward this stone. They actually broke it and it had to be put back together by a stone smith of some sort, whatever it was. But, anyway, they were able to get it back together, a cement of some sort. But anyway, this incredible history that goes along with this.

But this story was because of a professor and because of what he taught and the feeling that these young people had and the desire to go down there and steal this thing and take it back to Scotland and they were heroes. They hid it in a field someplace and the British government was up in arms over it and they wanted to get these young people. They knew who some of these kids were but the people, they weren't going to let anything happen to them. Anyway, they finally gave it back and told them where the stone was and nothing ever happened to the kids. But it's quite a story. It shows a deep sentiment even in that period of time over a stone. So it is even here, Scotland's wanted it back because it was taken away from them. They wanted it back for all that time, since 1296 when Edward I took it. So they've wanted it back all this time. Now finally the British Parliament decided, okay, you can have it except when it's needed during a time of coronation, and then it comes back. That was the agreement. So they get to keep it up in Scotland – Jacob's Pillar Stone where he had his dreams that's recorded in scripture there. Quite a story.

I’m trying to make sure I don't miss anything here that I wanted to mention. Then it was handed over in a ceremony between the representatives of the Home Office and the Scottish Office and it was transported to Edinburgh castle where it's at at this time.

So concerning the princess Tea-Tephi, she married a man, again, who was known as a king in the region of Ireland at that time. Again, all descendants from the lineage of king David of the tribe of Judah have reigned over regions of Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom. In other words, over Ephraim and her commonwealth of nations.

I want to read this, too: The descendants of this king of Ireland and princess Tea-Tephi reigned from Tara in Ireland for many centuries. And later in the days of Kenneth MacAlpin they transferred their place of rule to Scone, in Scotland. So that's how it became known later as the Stone of Scone, because of the name of where it was transferred to in Scotland. The same destiny continues on down today to, again, Queen Elizabeth II as a direct descendant of Tea-Tephi and her husband.

Revelation 3:7. I don't know if you find things like that interesting but to me they're a marvel. It's just like the word "British," what it means in Hebrew, the "brit" and the "ish": "a covenant people." You think, where do names come from? They have meaning, and especially if you know their origin and what they are. "Ish" is the word for man in scripture. "Brit" is the word in Hebrew for, again, "covenant." You think of all the crazy things to be called a nation, "covenant people." They don't even know it. So where did that one come from? There are so many things like that that are deeply imbedded in things of history that people just don't understand where it came from. Just like the ambulance that has the little pole and the snake wrapped around it, running down the highways

Revelation 3:7—And to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia write; These things are said by he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens. When I read this I think of those who at the Apostasy, when it took place, they wanted to continue on with what they believed that Mr. Armstrong never finished. They believed and spoke, ministers spoke of the fact that Mr. Armstrong never completed the work, therefore, we needed to have a magazine. That's why they had different magazines. "We have to have a telecast!" That's why they wanted to have these things. "We need to start writing literature," not go back and try to use the literature we had in the past: "Let's rewrite everything." So there's this great movement because we now have a work before us to finish what Mr. Armstrong didn't finish. They don't understand that when Mr. Armstrong died that work was finished and that door was shut. How many people have been trying, different organization, scattered groups have tried to open that door and it's shut. It's slammed shut and they can't do what Mr. Armstrong did. They're not growing like Worldwide did and for a purpose, because God's not in it, because that's not what God is doing. But their minds were closed off to listening to such things, and yet it should have been so obvious.

Isaiah 22, an interesting prophecy in Isaiah that has much to do with this verse recorded here in Revelation 3. Isaiah 22:20—And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim… Now, God uses names for purpose for what they mean because of what He's going to do on a prophetic plane, not something that's going to happen physically. This is something, this word "Eliakim" means "God sets up." There is something that God is going to set up, the son of Hilkiah, which that word means "my portion is Yah," God, as in Yahweh. And so it makes it clear here what the context is about and it goes on to say, and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your sash. It's about what God gives to Jesus Christ, to what God raises up in His own Son, to what God has prophesied through time about a Messiah. …and I will commit your government into his hand. So He speaks in these terms about two names of two people to give something prophetic of something that He is going to do, just as much as when He spoke through Melchizedek, it was Him; and this is God, this is how God is explaining what He's going to do through His own Son.

…and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your sash. And I will, as it says here, commit your government into his hand. It's God using this terminology to show exactly what He's going to do in giving what He gives in power and authority to His own Son Jesus Christ. Incredible! …and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to peace. That's what it's about, the City of Peace. He is the one that God uses to raise it up. He's the one that God uses to establish it, not a heavenly Father, that's not what it's talking about. …and to the house of Judah. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder, because it's all about Jesus Christ. That's why it introduces the Philadelphian era in the manner that it does. He is the one who has the key of David. It was placed upon his shoulder because he is the key. He is the one who came out of the lineage out of David that God has prophesied, that God has given to be His Messiah, to be His Christ for the earth. And the key of …of David will I lay upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and none shall shut. So when Christ opens anything for the Church, because he is the head of the Church, when he opens up something to be done in the world it's going to get accomplished.

Just like what's coming. We have funds. We have a lot of funds to be reserved, to be used, that are going to start to be used here very soon now in this last book just as we did the one before, because of where we thought we were at that moment in time. We kept pumping, we pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into what we were doing because we knew that we've got to get rid of it anyway, and this is the best place to do it, to warn, to cry out to the world. But the more we did the more that kept coming in and we would keep raising the amounts; all the way up to May we kept doing this. So we intended that there not be a dime left so that everything would be used all the way up to the end. It wasn't until the last few days there that it became very obvious we've got some more time; I don't know what's happening but God has to show us what's taking place and what we've gone through because it's quite obvious here. So we had the message we did at Pentecost, and so forth.

But those funds since that time, we haven't been advertising and they've continued to build since that time. So we're now ready to once again go out, but it's a door that really can be used. I hope you understand it's not what we do. It's not about how much we have. It really isn't. Though we're going to use it and we're going to put it in there just like we did before, but the point of all this being is that God has kept us small for a purpose and for a reason. I've said for a long, long time when it's God's purpose that a message go out it can go out like wildfire. It won't be because of any advertising that we have done. That can enhance it and that can help people along the way. I hope you understand what I'm saying, that when it's God's purpose, when it's Christ's purpose that something be opened up, and especially in today's modern world of things having to do with Twitter, the things that people do in communicating with each other, things that go viral, things that happen overnight, God can and God will do that in His time. And it's easier to see today than it was back seven years ago, how that can be brought to pass so quickly.

So we do what we can with what God has given to us. It's like what God gave to Mr. Armstrong, although that was many, many times bigger than what we are. The point of all of it is the very reason that God had Gideon with such a small army was to drive a point home: it is by His power and by His might, not by ours. It's not by how great and how big we are. We're just blessed to be a part, to share in something great, with always understanding and knowing God is the one who does it all. He truly does.

But we're to do it as though, and strive to do it as though, as Mr. Armstrong said, we're doing it ourselves, knowing all the time God and Jesus Christ, they're the ones who do it. I hope you understand that to the core of your being because that's how everything is going to take place here at the end. It’s not because of how good we are or how great we are, or anything else. It's about God and what He does. Again here, that's why it talks about here, and the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulders, and he shall open and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten, or "secure" as it means, him as a nail in a sure place. It's just like when you drive a nail into something to hold something in construction in place you drive it in there to hold something fast. This is the example that's given here. God says, "I am placing him in a place," you know; the chief cornerstone, basically, is what it's all about. …and he shall be for a glorious throne to his Father's house. So it's all about Jesus Christ and what God fulfills through him.

So again, Revelation 3:8—I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it, because Jesus Christ is the one who has set it before Mr. Armstrong and before the Worldwide Church of God to do a work before the end would come. …for you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have not denied my name. And that name again, The Church of God. Incredible! Over and over again here the importance of that, that it's about God, that it's about His Church, not some other group and not some other organization.

I've got to read this as it states it because I think of Mr. Armstrong reading this so often, Matthew 24:14—And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations. I think of The Plain Truth. I don't know how many languages it went out in but it went out in a lot of languages. I remember being at Bricket Wood and we'd have work projects at times, or we'd go over to the printing press over there. There was a lot printed here in the United States that went to Canada, United States, and some other places in the world. But over there everything that went throughout the Middle East, into Africa, and all throughout Europe was done right there at the printing presses in Radlett right next to Bricket Wood and oftentimes when they needed help we would go over there, the students would, we'd have to help to bind these huge amounts of Plain Truth magazines that would go out every month by the thousands and tens of thousands, and there had to be hundreds of thousands going out of that one building every month. Awesome! Because of what God was doing here.

And it says, "This gospel will be preached into all the world for a witness to all nations." And the witness? People don't care. People don't listen. The only ones who really listened are those whom God called. He raised up a big Church toward the end here compared to what it had been through the previous nearly 1900 years. We see the results of what took place, a witness to all nations then when that's gone out in the power that God gave it because of the telecasts, because of The Plain Truth magazine and all the literature, and the radio broadcast. I remember going out and listening late at night in the car trying to find the station; you'd just turn the dial and you'd pick up something, if you waited long enough, 11:00, 12:00 at night you're going to hear Mr. Armstrong on the radio. He's going to be there because they had these powerful stations, especially at night, that would broadcast clear across different places throughout the United States. Awesome, what took place. So God called people out of that, but not the world, because the world doesn't care.

…and then the will end come. The last era will come, and the end indeed will come.

So some incredible prophesies here of things that have taken place and the doors that were open. Scriptures over and over again talk about what a door is. It's that which has to do with the gospel and the truth that goes out.

Revelation 3:9—Behold, I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie, spiritually, in other words. They claim to be of God. They claim to be Christian, and so forth, those who hated Mr. Armstrong, those who hated the message, those who used to go and destroy Plain Truth newsstands, because we had that program where in grocery stores and quick food markets all across the country there were the magazines. Different ones of you helped to load those stands up and there'd be times we'd come back and the stands would be gone and you'd go out back and they'd be in the dumpster and people, they tried to crush them. They tried to destroy them because they hated it. Mainly the Church of Christ and the Baptist Church, and there were some others in there, but mainly them. They hated this way. Different ones wrote literature about Mr. Armstrong. They hated what he had to say. Incredible!

So it says, I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. That's true about Philadelphia, but this is true about every era, any who become a part, who are a part of that government that God brings to this earth when Jesus Christ returns, a part of Elohim. There are going to be a lot of crow to eat when people come to understand what they were fighting against, that they were fighting against God, they were fighting against Jesus Christ.

Verse 10—Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, a time of trying, which shall come upon all the world, to try, like putting to the test, those who dwell upon the earth. We should deeply understand what this is all about. I am so thankful that he didn't have to see what happened to the Church in Laodicea after the work he put into what he did and not only that but basically speaking of those who lived during that time period, as a whole, they don't have to experience what's coming. They don't have to go through what this world is going to go through. So many of those are dead and they await a resurrection during that period of time. That's what it's talking about here because there is a time coming then toward the end here where people are going to be tried, and they are going to have to go through it, but it wasn't going to happen during the era of Philadelphia. It's going to happen later. It wasn't going to happen during Laodicea either. We'll talk about that later.

Verse 11—Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown. That same message we talked about at the feast, that everyone who is called is called to a purpose. There are those who have been called to become a part of the 144,000. There are those who are called to live on into a new age in God's Church, who have opportunity now to learn things, to be molded and fashioned for things that they're being prepared for if they will yield to that process and yet people could lose that, whatever that is that's going to be given to them because God's going to see to it that there are certain things that are going to be fulfilled.

He that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall not go out anymore: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is Jerusalem, all about the City of Peace, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the Churches.

So again, when I read something like that I realize that all that's being said right now, nobody is going to be able to hear it nor understand it unless God's working with them, unless God begins to draw and call people and give them the ability to see and to understand. I deeply look forward to that day. It's coming soon.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1